November 5, 2008

Frey appointed to EPA clean air committee

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has appointed Dr. Christopher Frey, professor of civil, construction, and environmental engineering at NC State, to the seven-member Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) panel for three years.

The CASAC, established in 1977, acts as an advisor to the EPA administrator on the EPA's national air quality standards. The group also addresses research related to air quality, sources of air pollution and the strategies to attain and maintain air quality standards and to prevent significant deterioration of air quality.

Frey also serves on a separate panel of the CASAC that reviews the national air quality standards for particulate matter. He was recently selected to serve on a National Research Council committee that will help establish a precedent for regulation of the use of tetrachloroethylene, a potentially harmful chemical that is often used in the cleaning and degreasing of metal parts during different steps of the industrial process. The committee will also review and advise EPA on methods for quantifying uncertainty in assessments of human health effects from exposure to chemicals.

Frey's research interests have been in energy and environmental systems, including air pollutants, greenhouse gases, power generation and vehicle emissions. He earned his B.S. in mechanical engineering in 1985 from the University of Virginia, his M.S. in mechanical engineering in 1987 from Carnegie Mellon University, and his Ph.D. in engineering and public policy in 1991, also from Carnegie Mellon.